Game Day 5: WAS vs OTT

The set up:

The Senators come into tonight looking to make it three straight at Canadian Tire Centre to kick off the season. In the last two outings the Senators have established themselves as the dominant team earning 5-2 victories against Philadelphia and the Tampa Bay this past weekend. Led by strong special teams play the Senators will look to make it three in a row in the opening home stand for the second season in a row.

Washington comes into this season as a team on a bit of a revenge tour after missing the playoffs for the first time since 2014 and just the fourth time in the Ovechkin era. While the Caps have struggled to score in the first two games, averaging just a goal per game, this team does feature arguably the greatest goal scorer of all time in Alexander Ovechkin. Additionally, with savvy vets alongside in T.J. Oshie, Niklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and more, don’t expect this group to lose their composure tonight.

Roster report:

Below is how the Senators lined up at practice this morning at Canadian Tire Centre:

Head coach D.J. Smith announced this morning that the plan for tonight is for Josh Norris to play.

Who to watch:

How could Josh Norris not be the player to keep an eye on tonight? The 24-year old centreman makes his return to the ice after 270 days and both Josh and the team could not be more excited.

When healthy Josh has shown to be one of the most explosive young centres in the game with an elite scoring touch. In the 2021-22 season, he tallied 35 goals in just 66 games, a 43 goal pace in 82 games. While it might unreasonable to expect Norris to immediately return to his old ways, Don’t be surprised to see him challenge the opposing goaltender all night.

One way or another, we should all take a moment to simply enjoy seeing the young talent back out on the ice tonight. The amount of work and fight he’s put into this return has been admirable and we can’t wait to see the results it yields.

Special teams thriving:

While the Senators surely aren’t happy at the sheer number of penalties (14) called against them through the first three games, they must be happy with the strength of the penalty kill units. Through three games the Senators have given up just two goals on 14 penalty kills, including just one on the last 11 penalty kills. Not to mention it took them just 45 minutes into the season to pot their first shorthanded goal against Carolina in the season opener.

The power play has had some ups and downs but as a whole has converted on three of the 11 times they had the man advantage. This week the Senators coaching elected to change up their power play strategy, having Jake Sanderson quarterback the first unit. Adding Norris back into the fold only makes the Senators power play more dangerous.

Look for both sides of special teams to continue their hot pace while the team looks to clean up their penalties as a whole tonight.

Where to watch:

For those not at Canadian Tire Centre, Sportsnet will be providing an English broadcast of the game while RDS will have French coverage. Additionally, TSN1200 and Unique FM 94,5 have you covered on radio in English and French respectively.